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State v. Penland7/31/1996
.E.2d 470, 506 (1989), sentence vacated on other grounds, 494 U.S. 1023, 108 L. Ed. 2d 604 (1990). Moreover, none of the cases defendant cited involved the same four aggravating circumstances found by the jury here, and none involved a defendant who stabbed his victim fourteen times after having kidnapped, raped, and sexually assaulted her.
This case is similar to cases in which this Court has found the death penalty proportionate. In State v. Sexton, 336 N.C. 321, 444 S.E.2d 879, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 130 L. Ed. 2d 429 (1994), we affirmed a death sentence where the defendant strangled the victim after raping and sexually assaulting her. Although the jury found nineteen of the twenty-seven submitted mitigators, it also found three aggravators, including those in N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(5) and (e)(9). In State v. Moseley, 338 N.C. 1, 449 S.E.2d 412 (1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 131 L. Ed. 2d 738 (1995), we affirmed a death sentence where the defendant took a "trusting" woman to a secluded place and assaulted, raped, brutally beat, stabbed, and strangled her. As in Sexton and Moseley, the murder here was vicious, and the victim remained conscious for some time following the attack.
We conclude that the death sentence was not excessive or disproportionate. We hold that defendant received a fair trial and sentencing proceeding, free of prejudicial error.
NO ERROR.
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